Boys’ Volleyball: The real Sea Kings stand up
LAGUNA BEACH — The Corona del Mar High boys’ volleyball season is a month old. It took that long for the Sea Kings to unveil their entire team.
For the first month, CdM practiced and played without four standout players. Three of those played instrumental roles in CdM’s semifinal appearance in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs last year.
Another sport the four compete in during the winter ran long. Matt Ctvrtlik, Kevin Fults, Sam Kobrine and Ryan Moss helped the basketball team to a CIF Southern Section Division 3A runner-up finish and its first CIF State Southern California Regional Division III win since the 1999-2000 season.
Steve Conti, CdM’s volleyball coach, remembers that season 15 years ago. It was the last time the basketball season affected the start of his volleyball team’s season. Another thing he recalls from that year is CdM managed to do quite well once it got its players back on the volleyball court, winning a section title.
The goal for the Sea Kings is the same: contend for a section crown. They are going to need Ctvrtlik, Moss, Fults and Kobrine to have any chance at claiming a section championship this season.
In its first volleyball appearance, the foursome didn’t start at Laguna Beach. Once they played, Ctvrtlik, Moss, Fults and Kobrine made a difference in CdM easily sweeping the nonleague match, 25-13, 25-21, 25-20, on Tuesday night.
“It’s nice to have them back, and the experience they went through in basketball … playing in those high-pressure games and those kind of scenarios, we’re hoping that’s going to pay off for us in the end of our season,” Conti said. “I scheduled stuff really late because I tried to look at the big picture here, and knowing that I got a lot of guys that are in basketball and knowing it was going to be a good basketball team, I tried to be smart about scheduling as late as we could. The Best of the West [last Friday and Saturday in San Diego] is a tournament we always go down to, and we just cannot [keep that off] the schedule.
“They had a great [basketball] season, which was awesome. Unfortunately, those guys missed that tournament [in which we went 3-3 and finished fifth in the Silver Division]. But we got some other guys that had an opportunity to go out and play. We brought some kids up from our frosh-soph and JV teams that had an opportunity go down there and play with the big boys.”
The Sea Kings’ big boys had to wait to get their chance against the Breakers (8-3). Conti said he slowly integrated Ctvrtlik, Moss, Fults and Kobrine because they only had one practice to prepare.
Out of the four, Moss, a 6-foot-7 outside hitter bound for USC, and Ctvrtlik, a setter, saw action in the opening set. The first set went easily to CdM (5-3), which ran away with it after it was even early on. The Sea Kings went on an 11-2 run in which senior Augie Miller and freshman Patrick Paragas served well. Ctvrtlik, Will Hunter and Finn Jeffrey each blocked a shot during the spurt.
Ctvrtlik finished with 27 assists, three blocks and three kills. The second set featured Ctvrtlik, Moss, Fults, an opposite bound for UC Santa Barbara, and Kobrine, an outside hitter, in the starting lineup, and CdM got off to a shaky start. The Breakers jumped to a 3-0 lead after a kill by Dane Olson, and a net violation and lift by CdM. The sluggish play was understandable with the lack of practice for Ctvrtlik, Moss, Fults and Kobrine.
“Tired, you know, still,” Ctvrtlik said, “but it’s fun to change sports.
“We’re taking [Wednesday] off. But it was good to just get in there and touch the volleyball after a couple of months off.”
Settling CdM down in Game 2 was Kobrine with his serve. The junior sparked a 6-0 run and the Sea Kings never trailed again.
The offense found a rhythm with Ctvrtlik spreading the ball around, finding Miller (11 kills, two blocks, two aces), Hunter (nine kills, six blocks), Moss (eight kills), Fults (five kills) and Kobrine (two kills, four digs). The Sea Kings led by as many as five in Game 2, thanks to a block by Fults. When the hosts cut the deficit to 20-19 on an ace by Adam Lythgoe, CdM responded. Miller, Ctvrtlik, Hunter each recorded a kill, and then Miller delivered CdM’s first ace.
“It was really great to have the rest of the basketball guys here today,” said Miller, a middle blocker. “We really wanted to start off … sort of [the] season with a win here in Laguna.”
Next for CdM is the Orange County Championships on Friday and Saturday. The team to beat in the tournament is defending champion Huntington Beach, which has won 77 straight matches, a CIF Southern Section record.
“There’s a reason why they haven’t lost in a year and a half and they’re two-time [CIF Southern Section] Division 1 champions,” Conti said of the Oilers. “San Clemente [is the last team to beat the Oilers and it happened in the finals of] the Orange County tournament two years ago.
“We could meet [Huntington Beach in the tournament]. We don’t know where we’re going to be seeded based on some of our preseason.”
Whatever seed CdM receives in the tournament, Conti said his team could play with anybody. With Ctvrtlik, Moss, Fults and Kobrine playing volleyball again, there’s no arguing that.